Beaches

When she was not quite 80, Agnès Varda, one of the seminal filmmakers of the French New Wave, decided to take a look at her life, with the resulting film a lovely bit of memory and mischief. Now in contention for an Oscar, it's back for a brief run this weekend at the Laemmle Sunset 5, the Pasadena Playhouse 7 and the Town Center, Encino. "Beaches" is an extraordinary documentary and best on the big screen, so consider this an unexpected holiday gift. You can feel Varda's amusement in the way she's stitched together remnants of her life, sand and the past kicking up around her as she walks backward -- literally, at times -- then forward again, contemplating, teasing.

Long Beach police shot and killed a man suspected of assaulting a law enforcement officer Sunday. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department pursued the assailant into Long Beach after the alleged felony assault. Long Beach police joined in the pursuit about 3:15 p.m., said Long Beach Police spokeswoman Sgt. Megan Zabel. The man was shot in the area of Ocean Boulevard and 14th Place. He died after being taken to a nearby hospital. It was not immediately clear what caused police to fire on him. Twitter: @latimesemily Emily.Alpert@latimes.com

I tend to like children, and generally harbor positive thoughts about the future. But I had my doubts this summer, maybe like you, after the U.S. Open of Surfing crowd degenerated into marauding and brawling - young men clashing with police in riot gear, flipping over rows of porta-potties, ripping out street signs and using them to bash into local businesses. They called it a "riot. " A riot, however, happens when there is at least the perception of some sort of injustice. This was no riot.

Law enforcement officials say a man who was shot and killed Sunday afternoon by Long Beach police pulled out a pair of scissors during a clash at a Target store in Compton before leading Sheriff's deputies on a chase into Long Beach, where he got out of his vehicle with a large wooden stick in hand. Security officers first tried to detain the man at the Target on South Alameda Street for “a crime allegedly committed at the store,” the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said late Sunday.

California's outdoor resources -- its beaches, mountains and deserts -- are key assets in fueling the state's $106-billion tourism industry. A new study finds that keeping those assets pristine helps keep visitors coming. Beaches that have stormwater mitigation programs have significantly higher attendance than those with no such pollution control measures, according to a new study by scholars at UCLA. The report by visiting scholar Ryan Vaughn and others at the Ziman Center for Real Estate found that beaches with stormwater mitigation programs had an average of 600,000 more visitors per year than those that did not. The study was based on attendance numbers taken at 26 beaches in Southern California over a 10-year period.

Health officials Friday afternoon reopened beaches near Ballona Creek to swimmers and surfers, two days after they were closed because of a major sewage spill. Testing showed bacteria levels in the water within normal ranges for two days in a row, so lifeguards on Friday began removing closure signs from two miles of coastline south of the creek outlet, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. The closures were ordered after a clog in a sewer main caused a manhole near Centinela Avenue and Sepulveda Boulevard to overflow Wednesday, discharging an estimated 500,000 gallons of raw sewage into a storm drain that leads to Ballona Creek and, eventually, the Pacific Ocean.

For surfers, Moroccan beaches about 100 miles southwest of Marrakech provide long, smooth breaks -- and few crowds. Access Trips , based in Oakland, mines these lesser known locations along the Atlantic Ocean with a surf vacation to locals-only spots near Agadir. Participants spend three days in morning and afternoon surf lessons during this eight-day trip. There's a cultural side to this tour as well. Sightseeing and exploring the history of Marrakech and hiking in the Atlas Mountains also are on the itinerary to create a fuller picture of life in the North African nation.

Los Angeles-born producer DJ Nobody is anything but, as a quick run through his resume confirms. One of the resident DJs of the influential weekly beat club the Low End Theory, the producer born Elvin Estela has been dropping essential tracks since the mid-'00s. As DJ Nobody, he's responsible for the foundational, influential 2005 full L.A. beat album “And Everything Else” and countless productions and residencies since. As half of the bass-heavy hip-hop killers Bomb Zombies with the rapper Nocando, he's produced some of truly thick L.A. beats.

The California Marine Debris Steering Committee, joined by environmentalists, educators, government and business leaders, has announced its "action plan" to halt the destruction of our seas and beaches (Metro, July 10). Their suggestion for household taxes, education, improvements to city storm drains, more trash barrels, stricter anti-litter enforcement and discouragement of polluting Styrofoam and plastics are all well and good. May I suggest two more proposals: When I go to the beach, I take a plastic bag and fill it two or three times with debris that I find there.

Several beach parks on Hawaii's Big Island will be closed beginning Sunday afternoon because of Hurricane Felicia, which is expected to increase wave heights as it approaches land, Hawaii County Civil Defense Agency officials said Saturday. The National Weather Service in Honolulu, however, said Felicia would probably be downgraded to a tropical storm or tropical depression once it moves closer to Hawaii. Felicia peaked Thursday as a Category 4 storm with winds topping 140 mph. It entered the central Pacific on Saturday as a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. The storm was about 800 miles east of Hilo on Saturday morning.

SAN JOSE - At 21, Matt Nieto still looks very much like a college student talking about coming home for Christmas or spring break. But while Nieto happens to be employed by a successful hockey team, he still opts for comfort when he comes home to Long Beach. Where does he go first? "In-N-Out," Nieto said, smiling, answering without hesitation. "Every time I go home, the first place I go is In-N-Out. " You can take the kid out of Southern California, but you can't quite take all of Southern California out of the kid. Never mind that they have plenty of those burger spots in Northern California and San Jose.

In their largest demonstration yet, truck drivers who haul cargo in and out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will go on a limited strike Monday to protest what they contend are widespread workplace violations. The truck drivers, from some of the region's largest trucking companies, have accused the companies of illegally misclassifying them as independent contractors instead of as employees. That misclassification results in lower wages and denies them protections that employees get under state and federal labor laws, they contend.

South Bay Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi on Friday announced a bill designed to take the financial heat off Hermosa Beach voters who are being asked to decide whether to allow oil drilling in their city for the first time in more than 80 years. The legislation would allow the city to take out a no-interest loan from the state to help pay off a $17.5-million penalty the city would face if voters in the beach town reject an oil drilling proposal. The assemblyman said he wanted Hermosa Beach residents to vote "without the gun of this financial penalty to their head.

Several people were injured in Long Beach on Friday after a car collided with a train on the Blue Line, officials said. The crash between the northbound train and car was reported about 7 a.m. near 14th Street and Long Beach Boulevard, said Metro spokesman Jose Ubaldo. Details about how the crash occurred were not immediately available. Five people were transported to hospitals with minor injuries, according to Matthew Dobberpuhl of the Long Beach Fire Department. Five people on the train reported minor injuries, such as back and neck pain, Ubaldo said.

Back in the day, actress Marion Davies' luxurious beach house in Santa Monica had more than 100 rooms and an ornate swimming pool. Little of the original mansion still exists, but what's now known as the Annenberg Community Beach House still has plenty of oceanfront allure. The beach house will mark its fifth anniversary Saturday and Sunday with an open house that is to feature activities as varied as ballroom dancing and paddleboarding lessons. Guided tours with architects John Berley and Mia Lehrer are scheduled for 10 a.m. each day. The mansion was financed by Davies' lover, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, and many grand Hollywood parties were held here, according to a history on the beach house website . Hearst engaged Julia Morgan to design it; Morgan also designed Hearst Castle in San Simeon, Calif.

Fountain Valley had its hitting attack in high gear on Wednesday, and No. 1 Huntington Beach was beaten by the Barons, 9-7, in a Sunset League game. Fountain Valley (14-6, 8-1) received three hits and four RBIs from Oregon-bound Daniel Patzlaff. Dan Rosica delivered a two-run double during a three-run fifth when Fountain Valley rallied from a 7-5 deficit. Huntington Beach (15-3, 8-2) received three hits from Cooper Moore. The two teams play again on Friday at Fountain Valley.

Newport Beach has withdrawn its request to remove fire rings from the city's beaches. In a letter to the California Coastal Commission, which would have had to approve the city's application to remove the rings, City Manager Dave Kiff wrote that "[w]hile the most sensible thing to do is simply delay the commission's consideration of our application, we understand this is not possible. " The commission was scheduled to vote on Newport Beach's application a day before the South Coast Air Quality Management District considers a proposal to give any city or county the authority to get rid of wood-burning fire rings.

Long Beach health officials are warning residents of a sharp increase in whooping cough cases in the city. Health officials say 42 cases have been reported since January. Although officials did not immediately have a breakdown for the cases reported in the same period last year, they said 15 cases were reported for all of 2013. Four cases were reported in 2012. This year, most of the infected have been school-age children, officials said, adding that no deaths have been reported.